Replay the live chat with Mayor Annise Parker

[Update: The chat has completed. You may replay the archive below. Thanks to all who participated!]

Want a chance to ask Houston Mayor Annise Parker a few questions? Join us at noon today for a live chat here in the Houston Politics blog with the mayor.

Parker will take questions on all topics, from the budget to public safety to the city’s infrastructure. We’ll take queries using Cover It Live during the moderated, hour-long chat or you can leave questions in advance in the comments of this blog entry.

Set an email reminder below, then come back here Thursday to spend some quality time with the mayor.

Why does it appear that you have done little if anything about Houston’s crime, illegal alien and gang problems?
Why did you put public safety on the chopping block last year laying off 500 HPD officers when there are other less critical areas to cut? Non-critical areas are just as important because it puts more boots on the street.
Also the same streets on the west side of Houston have been crumbling, beating up our cars for a decade, do you plan to do anything to help our crumbling streets?

A two part question: The police force in this city is using the “new” noise ordinance to fine and shutdown venues, arrest artists without warning, and in one documented case available on YouTube, threaten citizens with deadly force. The ordinance does not use any scientific evidence and relies only on the officer’s discretion and a nameless complainant.
1) In your opinion, is this an effective use of HPD manpower? AND
2) Will you agree that the ordinance should be amended to include a scientific method of measurement so both the venue (or artist, engineer, DJ, etc.) and officer are aware of the violation and that the determination of violation is not arbitrarily left up to the officer’s discretion.

Thank you for addressing this matter. If you are so inclined, a grassroots organization titled, “Houston Coalition of Venues, Sound Men, Bands, and DJ’s” is organizing against the ordinance and would like to hear your opinions about the matter.

ok. so , I see all the lights on every bridge overpass on highway 59 are burnt out and have been for awhile. I realize these are mostly decorative but when the overpasses were first designed and built , this was a big selling point for them. I have not seen the multi color lights in at least over a year. Any plans to replace them or is this just a burnt out idea?

I like to take a step further on Shawn’s question. We know your response will be that police answer to 60,000 noise complaints per year. We have however, already discussed that point, and very few of those complaints are on music venues. Of the ones that do pertain to venues, there are two segments.

1) Venues that moved in after residences were already there. We agree these venues should take steps to work with those neighbors and control venue sound from exceeding into residential properties.

2) Housing that came in long after music venues were already there. These people moved in knowing there was a music venue next door, accepted that at the time they signed their papers. The city knew those venues were there when they approved permits for the residential spaces to be built. Your ordinance has caused a bad situation for the entertainment industry in Houston.

An additional point would be that you did indeed cut back on the police force, and there are certainly plenty of violent crimes they need to be dealing with rather than pulling shotguns on musicians and/or arresting them over noise complaints that shouldn’t be happening anyway. The multiple citations for each single noise complaint is $1000 each, meanwhile something potentially deadly such as a child not being buckled in is $250. First offense of drunk driving is only $2000. It’s certainly easy to see that getting caught driving drunk is, thus far, cheaper than getting caught entertaining an audience. It has shocked the community that you would ruin the night of hundreds of people because of a call from some person next door who has only been there a fraction of the time the venue has.

Last but not least, say what you will, but most of the community agrees this is a money grab by the city. You cut back on the police force (to save money) and make new laws such as this ordinance (to make money). It also seems that the more we fight this, the more aggressive (to the point of threatening violence) that the police force becomes… as if the city has a “How dare you challenge us” attitude. Government will say it has no negative impact, I beg to differ. I was days away from signing a lease to open a venue in Houston. This ordinance changed my mind and I decided not to. The venue was nowhere near any residence, but since it is “officer discretion” I was unwilling to take the risk. In my opinion, this city is quickly becoming inhospitable to the music industry. Many music tours have already removed Houston from their tour stops.

I would like to add to the other gentleman’s question in regards to the new sound ordinance. In addition to the reliance on an officer’s discretion on whether or not to ticket and/or arrest one or more individuals for a perceived sound violation, the current wording does not provide the business owners any reliable manner to improve or comply with this ordinance. This is essentially leaving the business owner and their employees in a legal limbo as how to satisfy the requirements, as there are no defined measures to adhere to. Some of the fined businesses have spent tens-of-thousands of dollars to completely renovate their structures with extensive work on sound mitigation and still have no hope of complying with an individual officer’s perception. I hope you will recognize that the City Attorneys have not only failed to see the potential for abuse but have also left business owners in a position which threatens their very livelihood. Please let us know that you hear us and you will bring this before City Council to reach a fair and just resolution.

If you would like, I would be more than happy to join you next Tuesday to discuss this in front of City Council.

Mayor Parker, This question has nothing to do with politics, just your personel view needed on a different subject.
When my dad passed away in May 2011. The Kingsville Record would not publish my siters life partners name in the Obituary, and list her as her life partner. However if they paid for the Obituary then they would print it. What is your view on this subject and do you think it is unfair?

My question is in regard to COH trash pick-up. I live in a small gated community (consisting of roughly 20 residences) in the East End and was getting COH trash pick-up. After several years of service, all of the residents received a letter stating the city would be discontinuing my pick-up because of where we live.

I am upset that I pay taxes to the city and have no COH trash pick-up, and now have to pay for private pick-up (for nearly a year now). I would like to know if there is a chance our COH trash pick-up will be reinstated.

In Business Journals, Houston was recently named the top metro area to have bounced back from the recession, creating over 100,000 jobs. What are your plans to ensure that the Houston economy keeps thriving?

I have a concern about recycling. As a resident who lives in an apartment complex, it is more difficult to recycle than it would be if I lived in a private home. It would be really great if we could start up a program to get apartment complexes to have recycle bins on their properties. A lot of people live in apartments and I think many people would be more motivated to recycle if they had bins at their apartment complexes, instead of having to save all their recycle items and then take them to one of the city recycle centers. There has to be a way that we can get this started up. Maybe we could have some sort of city deal where an apartment complex might get some sort of tax benefit or reduction of some sort if they get a recycle bin on their property. It may not seem like much, but anything that we can do to help protect our environment in any way can make a difference!

Houston has been named the fattest city for the third time. I honestly believe we should address this. Either we implement some ways to induce a healthier lifestyle, or we go full blast and outlaw skinny people. Either way, we cannot keep sitting on this see saw, because it is about to break………

What do you say about the news out on the “fattest cities” unscientific list by Men’s Fitness, which apparently loves to pick on Houston? What about other similar lists from other sources that don’t get the same media attention but do NOT have Houston as a fattest city, one list from Money Magazine even had Houston as a skinniest city? Former mayor White called the Men’s Fitness list voodoo, I do hope that you will follow his lead because it is exhausting having to hear this rubbish year after year.

Mayor Parker,
Why are Houston Police officers allowed to create a major hazard on our highways? The location I am speaking of is IH59 Northbound near Main Street. The highway forks at that location and everyday from approx 4:30 to 5:30 the traffic slows down to a halt. You would think that there is an accident there, but there isn’t one. Two HPD officers are will sometimes walk, yes, walk to the 3rd lane of traffic and point instruct that car to move over to where they are located. I was in an accident there last June due to this hazard. A car ran into the rear end of my car causing medical injuries.
I understand the need for enforcement, but this should never cause a hazardous situation on a daily basis.
Regards,
Teresa Harbord

My question is in regard to sexually oriented businesses (SOBs). In 2007, the city passed an ordinance prohibiting these SOBs from operating within 1,500 feet of churches, schools, parks and residential areas. To get around this new ordinance, these SOBs now require their dancers to wear a bikini and claim to no longer be sexually oriented. Regardless, sexual acts are still being conducted and are still sexually stimulating (along with promoting violence, drugs, and prostitution). Furthermore, due to not having an SOB license, they are not paying the recently implemented $5 pole tax. How does the city plan to resolve this issue? Quite frankly, it’s sick that these establishments have been allowed to run unregulated in our city for so long.

Have you considered cross-training police and firefighters and selling redundant fire stations which would no longer be needed and getting the legislature to create a Houston/Harris County Metro Gov. thereby disbanding county commissioners and commissioner’s court?

Why do we need a month every year set aside for 15% of the population of our country?? Why isn’t there a Latino history month, maybe an Italian History month along with an Irish History month? Then we could even have an AMERICAN HISTORY year!

Mayor Parker. I understand why! My question is, can Houston afford this program? Everyone with handicapped license plates get to ride the toll roads free since about a month after Mayor Parker too office. By the way, I appreciate it! Just curious how much less money is not going to my great city.

Focus on the issues people! Has anyone attended or iewed a city council meeting? Ive seen more action at a high school prom committee!

Everything in Houston is a JOKE… There are rare talks of city revenue makers unless Anise is trying to get redlight money back which is legally unattainable. City tourism sucks because with a proper background would enjoy visiting a city with a (lack of a better, but spot on term)- CRAPPY downtown!

My first advice to the mayor, start by cleaning your city! By first sight both freeways to dt from the airport are eyesores, and once you get into downtown its even worse.

Everything in Houston in a joke along the lines of public transit, historical preservation, jobs, human welfare.

all the years you’ve been in office, just a city of trash… are you proud?

What has happened with the independent police oversight board? I follow the news and have not seen any updates through media or city website. I support this initiative. Further, can you explain why the board was created by Executive Order rather than through creation by city ordinance?

Mayor Parker,
The city had a budget of $4.5 Million Dollars to remove the Dead Trees from city parks and ROW. Memorial Park, “Houston’s Crown Jewel” has been decimated by contractors and it will take over 50 years to recover! My question is – Why did we not Import water from other cities reserves and use our city dollars to preserve our Parks? Memorial Park looks like a Nuclear Bomb has settled-in at it will never be the same! We can payoff a vendor for mounting red light cameras, but your administration refused to preserve our Parks. The Parks Department should have planned for the drought in advance, and made arrangements to fund a more reasonable source of remedy other than pure obliteration!

Don,t you think it is time for Houston to start worrying about a Mass Transit system? The Metro Rail will only go so far, the majority of Houston employees work outside of the city limits. I think it is time we extend rail cars to these spots outside the city limits. This would not only create jobs, but would cut future cost on road maintenance. The city of Houston can still keep the buses going. The buses can be extend farther out to neighborhoods to pick up and drop off to and from the train station. The train stain then moves to different parts in Houston. If The City of Houston is worried about where to put it. For example, you can change out the Park and Ride for the train system. Let the Rail go down the HOV lane. The Traffic in Houston would be cut in half because people would use the train system. People would use the buses to get to and from in their own neighborhoods.

Ms. Parker, you are our Mayor. We have to buy a car every four years because with have to drive and tear our car up. Gas prices are only going up. Houston is a big city, lets start acting like it. Please Help.

What is being done about the city’s sexually-oriented businesses (SOBs)? These are known havens for sexual traffickers, yet they are thriving and proliferating in our city. These SOBs are managing to get away with all sorts of illegal activity, and it seems like Houston is doing little about it.

why was the city insurance changed to a more expensive insurance i can not afford to get my treatments now that the insurance has change, and i can not afford to get meds for me and my kids becuase we now have 100 copay to pay…….this is sooooo crazy. We were told that this new insurance was to benifit you (mayor) and your family and not the avarage family

We were upset by that too. We had to pay full price for prescriptions until every family member met their $100 copay each. ER visits cost twice what they used to. It cost me twice as much to have my baby last August as it was going to with the previous insurance carrier, plus doctor’s appointments & copays have all gone up a little. It adds up to a lot by the end of each year. I haven’t had a raise in 3-1/2 years at my own job & now my husband isn’t going to get a raise for at least 2 years, then only 1% when he finally gets his raise in 3 years. Cost of living keeps going up & employers are not helping their employees keep up. I’m constantly trying to find new ways to cut costs on our expenses. It’s like new hobby!

Where on parking meters is there a warning regarding paper jams during rainy and humid days?

How much money is collected in malfunctioning of the meters in this case, versus how many ‘courtesy parking passes’ are actually being used?

If a tourist visits the City of Houston with no intent to ever return and they run into parking meter malfunctions, how are they compensated as the ‘courtesy parking pass’ will not suffice in their case?

Mayor Parker, my mother is a sr citizen who has lived in her neighborhood for over 40 years. She never lived in a flood zone but after Hurricane Ike, all of the sudden things changed. Now it can rain for 10 minutes and her whole neighborhood floods. I am the one that pays her water bill and it really angers me to pay a drainage fee when I see absolutely nothing being done to fix the drainage problem in this city. We have called repeatedly about the gutters on her street being clogged with debris and have gotten NO response from the City. It’s now to the point where her neighbors are going into the gutters themselves and cleaning out the drains. So please explain to me exactly where the drainage fees are going and what is being done with this money.

You allowed the Wall Street gang to occupy our parks at a Police cost of $380,000. Should I decide to stay in the city parks overnight will I be afforded the same free protection? How do you plan on recovering the money from the Wall Street gang? What a waste of funds!

• Are you aware of the number of high dollar salary staff who are not executives in this department?

• Are you aware of the number of employees who have been hired in this department compared to the number of employees that were laid-off in this department?

• Why are you hiring new employees when you have approximately 700+ on a lay-off list?

• What is the cost to hire, coach, and train new employees instead of returning laid-off employees?

• Employees are provided pay increases for future performance. A number of these employees are new to the department.

• The department spent money to contract an outside individual to document work processes. At the end of the contract the contractor was given a full-time job in the Human Resources department. The work that the contractor performed has not been utilized. Is this not a misuse of government funds?

• Are you aware of the gross pay inequities and violations of city policy and law that takes place in the Human Resources Department?

• What has the HRIS person produced in the year that she has been employed?

I would like to know why you continually lie about HFD not giving any ground on their pension? They have given you more than $15 million in deferments and have frozen pay increases for two years yet you still call them out as having done nothing. As comptroller you knew exactly how much money was coming in and going out yet you still try to play dumb. When will you have some integrity and tell the truth?

I believe the actual number was around $36 million in concessions over the next 3 years, on top of no raises for 2 years & only a 1% increase when they do get a raise after the 2 year pay freeze is up.

Mayor Parker, I have proposed this to every Mayor since Lee Brown and that is why are city employees not required to live in the City Limits of Houston during their tenure with the City. It would make absolute sense. Requiring city employees to live in the city limits would:
1. Reduce congestion and traffic on our highways and freeways since they would not be coming in from far away places like Katy, Cut and Shoot, Conroe and other bedroom communities.
2. Would reduce crime and create order. Imagine all police officers and fire fighters living and patrolling the City of Houston 24/7 instead of living again in these bedroom communities providing safety and security for these communities while neglecting the City of Houston Citizens. Imagine Andy Griffin of Mayberry. Sheriff Griffin lived in the Town of Mayberry and knew everyone and everyone knew him. It you want community policing than this is the way to go.
3. Economic boost to the City of Houston. If 22,000 City Employees were living within the City of Houston Limits you would see an increase in real estate sales, auto sales and tuition for schools and colleges as well as an economic boom to all sorts of sales groceries,restaurants and shopping which would boost the sales tax in the City of Houston.
4. Economic recovery that would surpass any other type of recovery City Employees would not tolerate the decay or disorder now currently occurring in our city because they do not live by the decay. For example city employees that live in Galveston or Conroe do not allow decay or disorder to occur where they live. If a City of Houston employee sees a stray dog in their neighborhood they immediately call animal control to pick up the loose animal but that same employee sees several stray cats and dogs in the City of Houston and will not lift a finger to solve the problem that is why things are the way they are in the City of Houston. We need to attach the City of Houston Employees to the City of Houston and make them part of the community and not just another employee.
5. Requiring all future employees to live within the City of Houston would not need Congressional Approval or Texas Legislative Approval so an Ordinance proposed and approved by the City Counsel and approval by the Mayor could change things for the better in Houston.
6. City of Houston Employees would pay property taxes, sales taxes which would go to pay their payroll and pension plans making them part of the solution to City of Houston’s economic woes. Remember the city pension plan is the biggest money pit and with city employees paying property taxes and spending their money in other cities and counties does not go to help pay their pension plan. City of Houston employees need to be part of the solution not part of the problem. We need to change this around.
7. Last but not least requiring future City of Houston Employees to live within the City Limits of Houston would slow down urban Sprawl and reduce the wasting of our natural resources (gasoline) and reduce air pollution (smog) from our city. You know as well as I do that several employees live 50-100 miles away from their work stations and since their is no rail or bus system these employees drive to and from work adding to traffic congestion, air pollution and the wasting of our limited fuel supply and the City of Houston condones this wasteful practice. This is unacceptable as there is a better way. Sometimes the employer does know better than the employee.
Please consider this thought and pass it on to the city counsel for their opinion and consideration.
thank you

Residency requirements that do not include a grandfather clause amount to an illegal taking according to the courts. For new employees, you run the risk of limiting the pool of job applicants based not on who is the best choice but who lives in the city, my preference for public safety workers, IT professionals, and anyone else in a skilled position to be the best applicant possible.

The benefits you cited have been used up north in yankee states, the results not coming close to any of the results you suggest, all sorts of problems arising too. In many cases, it merely amounts to employees needing to rent an apartment, the employee contracts currently in place not allowing for any such provision.

My car was reported stolen to HPD and was recovered a few weeks later. Come to find out I received parking tickets from city WHILE MY CAR WAS REPORTED STOLEN. Then received a Boot on my car while it was legally parked outside of my home Lost the appeal to have the boot removed even through had evidence tickets were issued while the car was stolen. Question: WHY CANT THE HOUSTON PARKING AUTHORITY RUN LIENCE PLATES FOR STOLEN CARS? Would have found my car one day after it was reported stolen. Tax dollars at work.

The Yale Street Bridge has a load limit of 10K lbs which prohibits all vehicles other than passenger vehicles from using the bridge. However, dump trucks, including COH dump trucks, are continually seen using the bridge.

It’s clear that a sign can’t keep overlimit vehicles off the bridge.

What are you doing to upgrade this bridge so it can handle normal City traffic?

How are you planning to address the three homeless encampments in the Heights that are now becoming aggressive with the neighborhood residents and dealing drugs? I understand one person was found dead in the past month under suspicious circumstances from that group. Residents are bombarded daily with door to door visits from this group. HPD, DON and your office have all been contacted. The locations are on Heights Blvd near I-10 north of the Orr development in the wooded area. You can clearly see the tents. Also on Studewood near the Bayou and finally on the bike trail between the Heights and Target. How can you deal with these long time Heights homeless with sensitivity and also keep the other residents of the Heights safe?

What is the possibility for a Pay As You Throw Fee for a dedicated recycling expansion fund?

How do you feel about crafting a long-term plan, with benchmarks, for expanding recycling?

How do you feel about a “taskforce” to assess what the city can and should do to expand recycling and to create a custom long-term/zero waste plan for the city that will expand recycling to all Houstonians at home, work, and play? This means expanding recycling to city-serviced areas, HOA-serviced areas, multi-family units, commercial, and parks and sidewalks.

Why is there not a police detective assigned to investigate identified professional burglary rings who have been hitting homes all across Houston (Heights, Briargrove, Memorial Villages, River Oaks, Tanglewood, Briarcroft, Braeswood). The police have identified at least 49 men in this group, but yet there is not one investigator specifically assigned to this case. Citizens in these neighborhoods are paying a large percentage of city property taxes, but are not getting adequate services both in crime and street repair. The private homeowner associations’ security patrols need CITY help just like other neighborhoods. District G needs more police coverage, not just a town hall meeting that results in more crime.

I recently read a report that indicated that in the past year and a half, only two buyers had been prosecuted in prostitution-related arrests. In a response to a recent drive by Free the Captives, an anti-human trafficking organization in Houston, to ramp up efforts to prosecute buyers, rather than the women and girls, who are often victims of trafficking and/or minors coerced into the sex trade, you indicated that the police were, instead, focusing on landlords who rented to pimps. With all due respect, I do not feel that response adequately addresses the sex-trafficking problem, which is incredibly prevalent in this city, and which is one of the most egregious human rights problems in this country. Could you elaborate on why your administration is failing to protect vulnerable women and children by reducing the demand by prosecuting the buyers?

Ummm wha happened with all that money for BARC and the SPCA for the NO KILL DOGS animal shelters?? thousands are still being killed! you said if we voted for you, you would change that!
We are waiting….

Mayor Parker, working downtown and helping visitors now and then, the chief complaint I hear is the many, many homeless people downtown that stalk everyone for money. You passed an ordinance regarding the outside eating areas but that doesnt seem to stop them. One of the main reasons is a place that helps homeless people called the Beacon. Homeless are bussed in and others come in droves for their services. Because of this, after they are done getting their free services at the Beacon, they are set loose on the workers, tourists and people who live downtown. I have been to many major cities in the US, and its a known fact that Houston has become a sanctuary city for homeless because of all the services and handouts here. It makes no sense to have place downtown that caters to homeless when the whole object is to bring business to Houston, tourists to Houston. The church owns the Beacon therefore pays no taxes, but the businesses do. Any plans to work on this issue? Thank You

Mayor Parker, do you support extending curbside recycling service to all houses, apartment complexes and commercial properties within the city limits? If so, please describe your plans to make this a reality, and your thoughts on putting Houston on the path to being a “zero waste” city. Recycling creates jobs and reduces dangerous pollution. Our tax dollars could be put to better use than landfills. Do you support creating a task-force to determine the best ways forward for improving the city’s recycling policy? Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your response.

I don’t feel Maor Parker really addressed the root issue with the noise ordinance and that is that it no longer gives businesses an empirical basis from which to measure noise levels (this used to be measured with a decibel meter and now is simply at the officer’s discretion). Without such a basis it would seem quite arbitrary – even when business is trying to work with its neighbors.

Currently this seems to me the same as having a speed limit law where no speed gun is needed to prove a violation, simply the apperance of speeding is enough. This seems patently unfair to businesses, especialy those trying to comply within the limits of a vague law.

Can you please inform the 911 and 311 operators that if someone calls and says they are from Clear Lake City, they we ARE a part of Houston? If a homeowner calls and accidentally says they’re from the “Clear Lake” area of Houston, the operators will refuse to help them, stating that Clear Lake is out of the Houston area! It also delays emergency calls!

The city’s RFP for recycling processing required a January 1 start
date, yet the city has not even awarded the contract. Other bidders
asked that the date be pushed back because the January 1 date gave
Waste Management an unfair advantage as the incumbent. It seems like
the fix has been in to give this contract to Waste Management from the
start, including the first no-bid contract award proposal. Seems like
this whole process needs to start over again to insure real
competition.

As Comptroller for the city for many years, I would think you would have pin pointed budget short falls long before you became Mayor. IT WAS YOUR JOB! You are already entitled to HUGE pension yourself; but you expect everyone else to make cuts to theirs, especially the fireman who have the strongest pension. So why do you want to cut everyone pensions but your own? or Some of your council memers who are also entitled to receive a pension??

As a contractor in the IT industry and working with staffing agencies, I have seen many issues with background screening processes which have some of a negative effects on hiring good candidates.

Recently, on the internet, I have also seen background screening that offers recent arrest records to the public. Since we know that a person is innocent until proven guilty and that this practice of employment screening can also interfere with courtroom processes in litigation:

1. What is your stance on eliminating this open records employment background screening practice?

2a. What be your suggestion to contractors in the field that work with many staffing agencies and are screened at Federal, State, Credit level for every employment opportunity?

2b. To expand on the question, how would you resolve the problem of running these screens with multiple businesses without risking privacy?

3. I understand that raising the employment rate in Houston, TX is of utter importance. How do you purpose to do this when more Misdemeanor offenders in Texas are being turned down for employment than Felons?

Small business owners i.e. proprietorships and contractors in Houston, TX were hit in recent years both by Hurricanes and Recession. Many citizens lost all possible savings through these years, became credit risks through stops in unemployment assistance and accrued debt in unexpected situations which have limited their possibilities of regaining a business presence.

Unemployment assistance is virtually useless to most citizens who are beyond a certain income bracket which did receive FEMA assistance during times of disaster.

How do you purpose Recession and Employment Reform to repair the Houston, TX employment and business market?

I consider opportunities like this one to work both ways. In tough economic times especially, citizens and those we elect to office should be engaging in discussions on what priorities we want to fund. This should include the basics such as how aggressive do we want our fire department to be, where to deploy our police, what hours & days do we want our libraries open, and the like.

The trouble is that so many people want to have everything and not pay for the services. I understand that the feds take a good chunk of change, the state picks our pockets further, and there are all sorts of other ways we are separated from our money. Still, everything we want has a price tag attached to it, employees typically much more expensive given rising health care benefits, pensions, and the like. Contrary to those who want to return to the days before child labor laws or a time when slavery was legal, no one is going to work for free.

Pensions cost about 9% of the city budget, even then only part of the budget since so many expenses are pushed into special enterprise accounts. To fully fund them as lawfully required, it might mean paying another point or two, perhaps funded by savings in refinancing debt, spending less on projects that few care for, or finally joining every other major city and instituting a garbage fee (as a last resort). Even if we cut such benefits further, the existing liabilities are already more than we can issue bonds for and contracts protect for years more (legal challenges before that point would only incur more millions tossed away and not likely allow reductions).

Calls for “complete streets” are great except that they are horrifically expensive and typically only benefit a few, the editorial yesterday making it sound like older drivers would magically appear at such locations to enjoy them. By all means let the private sector build deeper setbacks to accommodate this type of street but only at the expense of their own property rather than take it from owners on the basis for another grand ideal.